Hardcore military science fiction. As usual with military science fiction Earth has been threatened by an alien star empire. The book uses this crisis to explore the concept of humans merging with machines and the danger of humanity becoming another species. Ian Douglas explores this theme through the eyes of a Prim a person who has chosen to reject merger of man and machine which by this time in history have become common. ( )

I should have checked the reviews. If you like detailed battle descriptions, get high on military jargon and weapon specs, cry on self-sacrifice and get moved by displays of camaraderie then you'll probably like this.

Otherwise the plot is thin, the politics are superficial (present only to get in the way of the military geniuses) and the characters could have been robots, if they were not infuriatingly model soldiers that only exist in this kind of literature. While he did try to go for some realistic physics, the close dogfights don't exactly signal hard sci-fi. ( )

There is a milestone in the evolution of every sentient race, a Tech Singularity Event, when the species achieves transcendence through its technological advances. Now the creatures known as humans are near this momentous turning point.

But an armed threat is approaching from deepest space, determined to prevent humankind from crossing over that boundary—by total annihilation if necessary.

To the Sh'daar, the driving technologies of transcendent change are anathema and must be obliterated from the universe—along with those who would employ them. As their great warships destroy everything in their path en route to the Sol system, the human Confederation government falls into dangerous disarray. There is but one hope, and it rests with a rogue Navy Admiral, commander of the kilometer-long star carrier America, as he leads his courageous fighters deep into enemy space towards humankind's greatest conflict—and quite possibly its last.

(retrieved from Amazon Thu, 12 Mar 2015 18:03:26 -0400)

▾Library descriptions

There is a milestone in the evolution of every sentient race, a Tech Singularity Event, when the species achieves transcendence through its technological advances. Now the creatures known as humans are near this momentous turning point. But an armed threat is approaching from deepest space, determined to prevent humankind from crossing over that boundary--by total annihilation if necessary"--From publisher description.… (more)